He absorbed a first period hit to the head from Canadiens winger Erik Cole, which did not produce a hearing or any further disciplinary action from the league. Later, with 1:34 remaining in the second, Larsson made a long pass that sent David Clarkson in for the tying goal.

That play helped Larsson’s confidence.

“It was a huge goal for us. It was good to get some points, too,” said Larsson, who had three assists in the two wins over the weekend. “I was struggling the last two weeks so it was good to get back to normal. I’ll try to keep this up now.”

The fourth overall pick in the 2011 NHL entry draft, Larsson earned a spot on the roster in training camp. He started the season logging heavy ice time and playing the point on the power play, seemingly making the adjustment to the NHL from the Swedish Elite League without much trouble.

But that changed. He began making a few glaring mistakes and was taken off the power play by coach Pete DeBoer so he could concentrate on his five-on-five play.

“There are peaks and valleys, but I thought (in Montreal) he bounced back and was outstanding,” DeBoer said. “He was moving his feet, making plays, being physical. That was a great pass (to Clarkson). I liked even better how he defended. He was very good against some very good players. He got stuck out there against (Tomas) Plekanec’s line and Cole a bunch of times.

“Montreal has some of the fastest forwards in the league and he handled them very well. That’s the game we want to see all the time, but we also know he’s a young guy and this is a long season. This is the first time he’s been through a lot of things.”
On and off the ice.

The death of his grandmother has been toughest of all. Fortunately Larsson has a lot of emotional support.

“It’s family. We’ve all tried to be as supportive as we can,” said fellow Swede Johan Hedberg. “Sometimes you forget he’s only 19 years old. We’ve been spending a lot of time together and obviously right after it happened we wanted to make sure he was OK. I think he handled it real well.”

Larsson’s spirits are up and he believes his game is back on track.

“That’s no excuse,” he said of his personal loss. “If you go out there you have to play your best, but it’s been tough.”